10 secrets of learning a foreign language from a polyglot

10 secrets of learning a foreign language from a polyglot

How to force yourself to learn a foreign language? Should I strive to speak it without accent? What gives immersion in the language environment? Is it helpful to listen to the news on the BBC? About this polyglot and psycho linguist said in a lecture "Psychology of learning languages."

1. Go through the same stages as a small child

Each language has basic algorithms that can be quickly mastered and brought to automatism. To do this, you have to go the path that the child goes. Children usually begin to speak between the ages of two and three. At this time, no one really teaches their language, they just get used to the sound of their parents' voices, listen to the speech addressed to them, and at some point a linguistic revolution occurs, the logic of the native language is “turned on”.

When fairy tales begin to be read to a child, he understands little; most of the words are unfamiliar to him (that is, “Curved seashore”, that “gilded belly”). The first thing that arises is a feeling of pleasant vibrations and a comfortable rhythm. Emotions are born in a child, behind them are images, not necessarily related to what is written in the book.

When we begin to learn a new language in adulthood, we are the same small children in it. We are like being “born” and must go the same way: from recognition to habit, assimilation and reproduction. We must begin to experience pleasure by combining elements of the language that are already familiar to us, creating phrases and sentences.

2. Get used to the sound of someone else's speech

In order for the new language environment to cease to be alien to us, the audio perception must adapt to a comfortable level: the language should not scare, it should become familiar. This helps a lot to watch movies and TV shows. You can enable subtitles for adaptation, but only in a foreign language. It is important to watch what we saw before, so as not to strain and not to panic, that we won’t understand anything.

3. Determine what type you belong to.

Before you begin to learn a language, it is important to understand what type you belong to. Decisions will be different. The problem with perception is to listen to audio books in parallel with printed ones, listen to music, holding lyrics in front of your eyes, watch movies, put talk show background. Want to start speaking the language ... just get started! A good exercise to get rid of the block is to talk about anything for a minute without a break.

4. Watch your breath

Learning a language: listening to audio files, trying to learn a rule or build a phrase, we strain not only mentally, but also physically. Do not forget about the body, track the sensations of discomfort and remove them by breathing.

Typically, stress is concentrated at one of three points: in the forehead, throat, or abdomen. It is useful to “raise” the breath to the top of the head while breathing in, and while exhaling, slowly go through each of the points, relaxing them.

5. Watch the aliens

Pay attention to how native speakers of an interesting language speak Russian, how their accent sounds. In just a few words, you can understand how they articulate, how their speech apparatus works, and see the phonetic picture. This will help you rebuild.

6. Do not strive for excellence

One of the most popular wishes of those who come to language courses: "I want to learn how to speak without an accent." But this task is not just difficult, but impossible: all native speakers speak it differently. In little England alone there are more than three dozen phonetic norms, and the classical rules are becoming more and more blurred.

And if earlier students from translators achieved perfect pronunciation, an Oxford accent, now it’s more important to teach them to expand their range of perception - to teach them to understand the English language of Arabs, Chinese, Indians.

7. Use an emotionally-shaped approach.

In our native language, a word is associated with images, and not with the letters it consists of. Letters only distract from emotions, pictures. It is important that a foreign language gives rise to positive emotions and vivid images that are felt on a physical level.

Languages ​​can be compared with friends: each has its own characteristics, character, and temperament. One friend can hardly be confused with another. It is important to build such associations with languages. A key element could be, for example, music or the kitchen. They will become a password that allows you to activate the "file" with the desired language. The picture, emotion, taste allows you to immediately "penetrate" the language, bypassing the "internal translator".

8. Do not be afraid of mistakes

The most harmful thing in learning a language and in general all new is to be afraid of mistakes. Without them, it is impossible to learn anything. The child is praised for any incorrectly spoken or even invented word. He feels support and incentive to speak again. Learning a new language in adulthood should be the same.

9. Immerse yourself in the right environment

Many complain that, having gone abroad, plunged into the linguistic environment, for some reason they do not start speaking the language. But to be abroad does not mean to be in an environment. Environment means the ability to intensively and continuously communicate with native speakers.

Did you understand that you are ready for such communication? Go to any foreign training or seminar on a non-language topic: a gathering of aquarium fish lovers or a forum of amateur gardeners. Only residents of the country usually come to such events to chat with each other.

10. Love a new language

What usually motivates us to start learning a language? Competitive advantages in the labor market (when there is no increase for us without language), access to information or cultural resources (the desire to read the beloved author in the original), personal relationships, the need to feel comfortable while traveling.

But the best motivation is, of course, love. And the goal of learning any foreign language is pleasure and freedom.